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THE LIGHT BEYOND 
THE SHADOWS 



THE LIGHT BEYOND 
THE SHADOWS 



vO^AO 



By 
HOPE LAWRENCE 

Author of "A letter of Hope" 



WITH A FOREWORD 
BY THE 



Right Rev. A. C. A. HALL, D.D., LL.D. 

Bishop of Vermont 




NEW YORK 

MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY 

1909 



1% 



Copyright, 1909, by 
MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY 

NEW YORK 



All rights reserved 
Published, September, 190$ 



The Plimpton Press Norwood Mass. U.SA. 



CI A 2 6 

AIM 24 1M9 



THIS BOOK 

IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED 

TO 

"THE SOCIETY OF COMPANIONS OF THE 
HOLY CROSS" 

AND 

"TO ALL WHO SUFFER" 



FOREWORD 

The following paper was written, without the 
least idea of publication, to be read at the annual 
conference of a society of devout women, several 
of whose members are invalids. It is printed in 
deference to the wish of many, who desire to 
circulate it more widely. 

I am glad to commend its message to all into 
whose hands the little book may come, and 
more particularly to any who are called to walk 
— that they may be encouraged to walk, and 
neither to stand still nor sit down — in the way 
of the cross. 

Just now attention is specially called to various 
modes of relief from suffering. It is good to 
have, as in this paper, the value of suffering, 
when it is clearly God's will, emphasized. We 
hear much of our Lord's beneficent works of 



viii FOREWORD 

healing; but there is danger lest we should forget 
that the redemption of the world from the power 
of evil was wrought by our Lord's voluntary 
endurance of suffering. His sufferings came 
upon Him by God's permission, while they were 
due to the wrong-doing of men. We are bidden 
to arm ourselves with the same mind. (1 Pet. 
iv. 1). 

Two resolutions adopted at the Lambeth Con- 
ference of 1 908 set forth the two sides of the truth, 
both of which we need to keep in mind. 

In resolution 33, the Bishops 

" Urge upon the clergy of the Church so to 
set forth to the people Christ, the incarnate Son 
of God, and the truth of His abiding presence in 
the Church and in Christian souls by the Holy 
Spirit, that all may realize and lay hold of the 
power of the indwelling Spirit to sanctify both 
soul and body, and thus, through a harmony of 
man's will with God's will, to gain a fuller con- 
trol over temptation, pain, and disease, whether 
for themselves or others, with a firmer serenity 
and a more confident hope." 

Resolution 34 says: — 



FOREWORD ix 

" With a view to resisting dangerous tenden- 
cies in contemporary thought, the Conference 
urges the clergy in their dealings with the sick 
to teach as clearly as possible the privilege of 
those who are called, through sickness and pain, 
to enter especially into the fellowship of Christ's 
sufferings and to follow the example of His 
patience." 



The sentence from the exhortation in the Order 
for the Visitation of the Sick is not as familiar 
as it should be, nor the collect that has been 
framed upon it. 

* There should be no greater comfort to 
Christian persons than to be made like unto 
Christ, by suffering patiently adversities, troubles, 
and sicknesses. For He himself went not up to 
joy, but first He suffered pain; He entered not 
into glory before He was crucified. So truly 
our way to eternal joy is to suffer here with 
Christ; and our door to enter into eternal life is 
gladly to die with Christ; that we may rise 
again from death, and dwell with Him in ever- 
lasting life." 



x FOREWORD 

O God, whose most dear Son went not up to 
joy, but first He suffered pain, and entered not 
into glory before He was crucified; mercifully 
grant that we, and all thy suffering servants, 
walking in the way of the cross, may find it 
none other than the path of life and peace; 
through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

(Signed) ARTHUR C. A. HALL, 

Bishop of Vermont. 
Burlington, Vt., 

February, 1909. 



THE LIGHT BEYOND 
THE SHADOWS 



THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 

What a large company the Companionship of 
Suffering includes! I do not mean simply those 
who are sick or in physical pain. There are so 
many different ways of suffering. The greatest 
suffering is not by any means always physical pain; 
often mental pain, sorrow, loneliness, and spiritual 
suffering are far more intense. Surely the sorrow 
or pain that can be seen is the lightest form, 
however apparently heavy. Then, there is that 
suffering which cannot be seen; there are those 
secret sorrows which can hardly be put into 
words, and can be told only to God and to very 
near and dear friends; but beyond these, there 
are sorrows and sufferings such as are never told 
and cannot be put into words, and may be only 
" wordlessly " laid before God; these are deeper, 
and yet there is an inner hidden " Companion- 



2 THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 

ship of Suffering M in all these three forms, and 
for these I should like to give a few helpful 
joyous thoughts which have come to me out of 
experience. For each of these three forms of 
suffering our Father has given us an assurance 
and a promise: M I have seen thy affliction "; 
" I have heard,*' and " I have known thy sor- 
rows." This last goes down into the very 
depth, to those sorrows which we cannot utter, 
and which no eye has ever seen, nor ear has 
ever heard. " He knows." Christ our Saviour 
knows, for He " bore our sorrows and carried 
our griefs." 

I am quite unable to do justice to the height, 
depth, and breadth of this subject. " Com- 
panionship of Suffering " — I have purposely 
written " of " suffering, not " in " sufferings, for 
I do not wish in any sense that any of the thoughts 
I may suggest should leave us sunk in our suffer- 
ing, but that they should lead us out into its 
privileges, yes, even its joy. As Shelley says of 
the poets: 



THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 3 

* They learn in suffering, what they teach in 
song." 

While thinking over this subject I read many 
times the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, which 
gives that beautiful list of those who in their 
suffering, through faith, inherited the promises. 
I wish some one would add to this list the history 
of those men and women who, since Bible times, 
in spite of ill health or great suffering, did a 
great powerful work. Would it not be a com- 
panionship no man could number, of every 
kindred and tribe — "These are they which 
have come out of great tribulation "? As I 
thought of the history of suffering, and as I 
studied the lives of those spoken of in this elev- 
enth chapter in Hebrews, one day my eyes fell 
on the story of David and his six hundred fol- 
lowers, two hundred of whom were too faint to 
cross the Brook Besor, when they went out 
from Ziklag to rescue their wives, brothers and 
sisters from the hands of the Amalekites, and it 
seemed to me this also was one of the oldest and 



4 THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 

most instructive stories of the " Companionship of 
Suffering," and that there were many points of 
resemblance between that little band of earnest 
men and the world to-day. Of course we all 
know this story, but perhaps if I emphasize cer- 
tain passages in it I may bring out the salient 
points in that Old Testament time, and they are 
the same now, only different warfare and differ- 
ent surroundings; as St. Paul says: 

* Whatsoever things were written aforetime 
were written for our learning.'* 

In English History one has read of the famous 
" six hundred at Balaclava," but here are six 
hundred more famous than they, and their 
spiritual history has many features to help us 
to-day. At first, only four hundred gathered 
around David at the cave Adullam (1 Sam. 
xxii. 2); this cave was their " retreat," hither 
came persons in distress, in sorrow, and " bitter- 
ness of soul," " weariness of mind and body." 
No question was asked them, but: " Will you 
take David for your leader "? and these very 



THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 5 

weak and exhausted men became a ' wall of 
power " (1 Sam. xxv. 16). Later two hundred 
more joined them, and then the famous six hun- 
dred became such a power in the land that 
when many years afterwards the Temple was 
built, their spears and shields were hung in the 
" House of the Lord " as a testimony to their 
valor and their work (2 Kings xi. 1 0). 

But among this six hundred, it is a curious 
fact, there were " two hundred " not fit for 
active service — only fit for "watching." As 
the story reads: 

" So David and his six hundred men came to 
the city (Ziklag), and behold it was burned 
with fire and their wives and their sons and 
their daughters were taken captive (even David's 
two wives); then David and his people with 
him lifted up their voices and wept; until there 
was no more power in them to weep." (Can 
anything be more vividly expressed than this?) 
' Then David encouraged himself in the Lord 
and inquired of Abiathar, the priest, ... so 



6 THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 

David and the six hundred who were with him 
went and came to the Brook Besor where those 
who were left behind remained, but David 
pursued, he and four hundred men, but two 
hundred abode behind which were too faint, 
they could not go over the Brook Besor . . . 
and David recovered all the Amalekites had 
carried away, and David rescued his two wives 
and there was * nothing lacking.' And David 
came to the two hundred who were so faint 
they could not follow, whom they made to stay 
by the Brook Besor, and these went forth to 
meet David. Then some of the men who went 
forth with David said: 

" ' Because these went not with us we will 
give them naught of the spoils save every 
man his wife and his children/ But David 
answered: 

" * Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that 
which the Lord has given us, but as his part is 
that goeth down to the battle so shall his part 
be that tarrieth by the stuff; they shall part 



THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 7 

alike,' and he made it a statute and an ordinance 
from that day forward." 

This whole story seemed to me a beautiful 
description of what the " Companionship of 
Suffering " should be. Are there not those of 
us who are going forth to the battle in mission 
work to rescue brothers, sisters, wives — then 
others of us who are " too faint," who have to 
" watch by the goods "? and should we not all 
" part alike"? "As is his part that goeth 
down to the battle, so is his part that tarrieth 
by the stuff." 

David is always our type of Christ. He 
made these weak ones, by gentle compulsion, 
abide at the Brook. The Brook Besor was in 
the desert of " Shur," the word Besor coming 
from an Arabic word meaning " cold water." 
How refreshing it must have been in the desert 
to those "faint ones"! May not this incident 
have been referred to in Psalm ex. 7 — M He 
shall drink of the brook in the way: he shall lift 
up his head M ? Have we not, many of us, had 



8 THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 

times in our lives when we have been obliged 
to go into the country to regain strength for life's 
work? and there we sat down by some brook 
and learned the lesson, 

" Rest is not quitting 
The busy career — 
Rest is the fitting 
Of self to one's sphere: 
'Tis the brook's motion, 
Clear without strife 
Fleeting to ocean — 
'Tis loving and serving 
The highest and best, 
'Tis onward, unswerving, 
And this is true rest." 

David never says one word of upbraiding, he 
gave only sympathy, and so our leader, Christ, 
is ever tender and full of sympathy to us when 
faint and exhausted. How lonely and anxious 
they must have felt, left alone in that desert, not 
able to go and rescue their own wives and chil- 
dren; and, also, how useless; they could not 
show even their love for the leader, David, by 
active service; and yet we read they did some- 



THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 9 

thing — they " abode," and they " took care of 
the stuff " — their calm submission and content- 
ment were " real service "; "abiding by the stuff" 
implies faithfulness, watching, prayer, and fol- 
lowing in thought those who had gone forward 
to battle. Refreshed by prayerful waiting and 
watching, Besor became to them " the brook 
in the way," they were able to lift up their heads 
and go forth to meet David and his followers 
on their return; unselfishly rejoicing with them. 
David immediately asks them " how they are " 
(marginal reading); and then the important last 
lesson, the " parting alike " of the results of the 
battle. " As his part that goeth down to the 
battle, so is his part that tarrieth by the stuff." 
Does not Christ also emphasize this in the parable 
of the laborers in the Vineyard and all receiving 
a penny a day? What a lesson for us! Is this 
not a beautiful description of what should be 
the attitude of all who suffer? 

Does not this principle of David's open up a 
very wide and extended plea and scope for the 



10 THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 

true Christian Socialism which shall govern and 
control wealth? But emphasis must be also laid 
on the work of those " abiding by the stuff " ; — 
the faithfulness of those who are incapacitated, 
and lack the energy and the strength of those 
who go forth to the battle. " Christian Social- 
ism " is too wide and too much a question of the 
future for me to enter into it in this little book, 
except to say that the fear of want and the en- 
durance of poverty must, also, be one of the 
hardest forms of suffering, and that " Com- 
panionship " should be shown in bravely facing 
the problem. 

I would take the word " Reciprocity " from 
this story — the giving and taking in the " Com- 
panionship of Suffering." The greatest giving 
in life is not the gift which has tangible form; 
' The gift without the giver is bare M — and so 
the greatest gift we can give to God, and to 
each other, is ourselves; first, our love; secondly, 
our wills. How often our gifts, when apparently 
unselfish, are tainted either with self-will or self- 



THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS II 

love; we give in order either to be praised by 
others, or to please ourselves by giving (self- 
satisfaction); not for pure love of our Heavenly 
Father! 

There is a legend of the middle ages which I 
think most beautiful. It runs thus: There was a 
king of Castile who would build a cathedral, 
rich and magnificent. He said it was for the 
Lord, but he wished to have all the credit for 
building it; so he forbade all the people of the 
city, except members of his household, to help 
in the work. In due time the cathedral was 
finished, and a tablet at the door proclaimed 
who was the generous builder. On the eve of 
the very day it was to be opened the king had a 
dream. He thought he saw his beautiful ca- 
thedral rearing its proud head bathed in sun- 
shine, but on coming to read his name on the 
tablet, as its founder, he could not find it — it 
had been erased, and instead, he read the name 
of an aged widow whose house was in the 
poorest street of the city. He awoke, and, falling 



12 THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 

asleep again, dreamed it a second time, and a 
third time. He at last became vexed and aston- 
ished; so in the early morning he sent for his 
counselor, bidding him send for the lonely 
widow whose name he had read on the tablet 
in his sleep. When she came before the king, 
confused and alarmed at being summoned, he 
asked her if she did not know all were forbidden, 
but the king and his household, to aid in building 
the cathedral, and how she had interfered. 
Her reply was very simple: she had heard that 
that building was for the Lord, and she loved 
the Lord whose house it was to be. On a 
warm day one of the horses, that were drawing 
the stones to their place, halted at the door of 
her poor abode, upon which she brought out 
a wisp of hay and put it to his mouth, just 
because it was helping the work which was 
for the glory of the Lord. The king's face 
fell; he knew he had not labored simply for 
the glory of God, whereas the widow had 
done what she could, and from pure love to 



THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 13 

the Lord. It was she whose name should be 
written on that tablet. 

After giving to our Heavenly Father out of 
pure love, our next duty is the offering up of our 
11 Wills " absolutely to Him. A man may be 
thinking he is doing God's work when he is not 
doing God's will, and he may be doing His 
work as truly by patiently lying still and suffering 
as by working, preaching, and praying. A saint 
is not a man without faults, but the one who has 
given himself without reserve to God with most 
perfect union of his will with the will of the 
Father. 

Besides this giving of our love and wills, what 
are some of the ways in which we give to each 
other? In what ways can those who are actively 
engaged in life help those who suffer? and how 
can those who suffer and are shut in help those 
who are bearing the heat and toil of the day? 
Just as David and his followers did; first, they 
rescued the wives and children of those who 
fainted by the way; second, they offered no 



14 THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 

reproof; and David taught them the active form 
of sympathy, the dividing of the spoils of the 
battle with the weak. 

I think this word " sympathy " is much mis- 
understood. Many persons mean only pity 
when they use it. The German word " Mitge- 
fuhl " or " Mitleid," " suffering with,*' expresses 
more than the English word. Those who have 
suffered and have learned the peace and joy of 
Christ even in suffering, speak another language 
of the soul from those who have never suffered. 
They look into one another's face and know 
intuitively, without spoken words; this is true 
sympathy, and this intuitive sympathy, may it 
not be the A.B.C. we are learning here of the 
universal language of Heaven? As intuition may 
be the sixth sense which links our five physical 
senses to the corresponding spiritual senses of the 
future life, so the spiritual intuitive soul language 
may be learned through loving, true sympathy. 
As St. Paul says, near the close of his wonder- 
ful chapter on love: " For now we see through a 



THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 15 

glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know 
in part; but then shall I know even as also I am 
known " (1 Cor. xiii. 12). I can never read this 
verse without it bringing back to me one of the 
deepest lessons of my childhood, when I visited, 
with my father, a bell foundry. 

My father was a clergyman, and it was his 
custom, when we were children, as often as pos- 
sible on Saturday mornings (our holiday) to 
take us out into the country, or, if it proved a 
stormy day, to some factory. There we would 
learn how the articles we used every day were 
made. I remember on this Saturday, of which 
I would speak, we met on the way a friend of 
my father's, who accosted him thus: " I am re- 
turning to my study to finish to-morrow's sermon. 
How do you manage to be jaunting off with 
your children when to-morrow you must preach?" 
I remember well the gesture with which my 
father threw back his head and his shoulders and 
laughed, and, also, how his reply puzzled my 
childish brain: " You have blue Mondays, don't 



16 THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 

you and have to waste part of that day to regain 
what you have given out on Sunday? I fill my 
brain so full of strength and my lungs so full of 
God's out-of-doors on Saturday, that I feel the 
strain of preaching much less, and seldom have 
blue Mondays. As I lie under a tree watching 
the children play, I find there many subjects for 
my sermons. You know, one can 

* Find tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 
Sermons in stones, and good in everything/ 

Such a day as to-day, when it is storming, I take 
the children to factories to learn what work 
means, how the other half lives, and I kill two 
birds with one stone. I can seldom find the 
men of my church at home when I call, so I go 
to the factories to find them. I time my visit so 
some of it falls in their noon hour, when they are 
sitting around eating their dinners, and I get into 
personal touch with them and have an oppor- 
tunity I never should find in any other way. 
We theologians need to bring our theology down 
to every-day life and to the working men." 



THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 17 

When we reached the bell foundry we found 
a set of chimes were to be cast that morning. I 
cannot forget the terror with which I looked at 
first into that dark, dirty foundry, with its 
roaring furnace, and how I drew back and 
cried: "Father, I never can go in there with 
you; the dirt, the noise, the heat, will make 
me sick;" and then the gentle way my father 
took my hand, saying: " Yes, you can, hold 
fast to me; there is the making of music in 
here/* and my curiosity overcame my fears. 

Each caldron of heaving, seething metal had 
its one head refiner standing over it directing 
his assistants, who with long-handled spoons 
skimmed off the surface of the metal every time 
a lump appeared. The refiner watched the proc- 
ess with greatest earnestness until the metal had 
the appearance of a highly polished mirror 
reflecting his own image, and he could see him- 
self as in a looking-glass, and by this he partly 
judged the purity of the metal and future tone of 
the bell. When he was satisfied, the metal was 



18 THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 

poured out into molds filled with sand and set 
away to cool. 

As we came out from the foundry, on our 
homeward walk, my father quoted to us lines 
from Schiller's •' Song of the Bell," and then 
finished up with these words: " Now we see 
through a glass, darkly; but then face to face" 
(or as the Revised Version reads instead of glass, 
a mirror), and talked to us how Christ was look- 
ing down into our hearts (just as the refiner did), 
to see if our hearts reflected Him; and how, also, 
the music of our lives was made often in the 
furnace of suffering and hard things to bear. 

What are some of the special privileges of an 
invalid's life? From what storehouse can we 
bring our gifts for one another? The storehouse 
of the " chamber of pain "; and what is with us 
in that chamber — what privileges are in an 
invalid's life? It seems to me that there is more 
time and opportunity for the following things, 
and, therefore, these are our privileges. There 
is more, time to become acquainted with and to 



THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 19 

learn to know our Heavenly Father; more time 
for praise, also more time for intercessory prayer; 
more opportunities for using the real power of 
life, and, also, many opportunities for unselfish- 
ness and the doing of little things, which others 
in the hurry and activity of life overlook. Are 
you surprised at this list? 

How much these words mean, to have the 
special opportunity to learn to know our Heavenly 
Father! The way to think of God so as to know 
Him is to think of Christ. Then we see Him 
and understand how tender and good He is; we 
see if He sends us difficulties He sends them only 
because they are true blessings, and things which 
are truly good. He would like to have us like 
Himself, with a happiness like His own, and 
nothing less; and so as His happiness was in 
taking sorrow and ever living for others, giving 
to others and sacrificing Himself, He gives us 
sorrows too, and weaknesses, which are not 
really the evils we think them, but what we 
would be happy in if we could only know all 



20 THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 

as He knows it. So there is a use and service 
in all we bear, which we do not yet fully under- 
stand, and which He knows, and which in 
Christ He shows us. It is a use for others, a 
hidden use, but one which makes life rich, and 
the life is richest which is most like Christ's. 
" O that we may know Him, and the power of 
His resurrection, and the fellowship of His 
suffering, being made conformable unto His 
death." " Inasmuch as ye are made partakers 
of His suffering, rejoice." "I fill up, on my 
part, that which is lacking in the afflictions of 
Christ " (Col. i. 24). What a mystery there is 
in that verse! There is a hidden mystery in 
everything. Life would not be worth living if 
there were not. 

But the mystery of suffering we shrink back 
from, as it is deeper than any other mystery, and 
carries us into our inner being; as expressed in 
this beautiful prayer: 

*' O Lord Jesus Christ, who didst command 
every one who would come after Thee to take 



THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 21 

up his Cross and follow Thee, mercifully grant 
that I may have grace to bear patiently whatever 
Thou seest is needful for my soul. Forgive me 
all my murmuring in the past, and enable me 
henceforth to accept with joy the opportunity of 
sacrifice which Thou givest me, gladly following 
in Thy footsteps, Who, as the Author of my 
Salvation, wast made perfect through suffering. 
Grant that I may be made a partaker of those 
sufferings, bearing cheerfully that which Thou 
couldest not bear for me, but which I must bear 
for myself, knowing that in Thy love Thou 
sendest it to me to work out my salvation. Hear 
me for Thy loving mercies' sake. Amen." 

Many of us shrink back, instinctively, when 
we read this prayer, feeling, perhaps, we cannot 
use it sincerely, the " joy " of the " opportunity 
of sacrifice," and rejoicing to be made partakers 
of the suffering of Christ. But we all know the 
joy we experienced in childhood which came 
with the difficult task or work faithfully per- 
formed; cannot we learn in our maturer years the 



22 THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 

more difficult lesson, and to know the same joy 
which comes with suffering patiently and cheer- 
fully, borne for His sake? The key to the mys- 
tery of pain is only found as we study the life 
and suffering of Christ, and we only know fully 
what we experience, when we suffer with Christ. 
As we walk in the way of the Cross we walk 
with Him, praising Him. 

Praise is higher than prayer, and as a remedy 
for depression nothing is more helpful. I know 
some will say, " How can I praise when I am 
sad? " 

Joy is one of the shortest words in the English 
language, yet one really the least understood. 
We seem to think it is something that we will 
enjoy at some future day in Heaven. The joy 
of the cross, " Gaudium Crucis," seems to us 
nearly a paradox, but as we learn our lessons 
we taste this joy, and learn to praise with a 
heart full of peaceful joy. Our sorrows are 
turned into the highest form of joy and praise. 

As Harmony, in music, is the science of the 



THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 23 

combination of tones, and as every minor key 
has its relative major key, so we, in the music 
of our lives, must learn to transpose our sorrows 
and to give them to the world in joyful song and 
praise. 

What a great privilege may we find in the 
weary hours of enforced quiet for intercessory 
prayer! also for short ejaculatory prayer and " the 
prayer of silence*' ; three forms. What a power 
we have at hand! We pray so much that this or 
that gift, power, or blessing should be ours, or be 
given to some dear friend; there is a higher form 
of prayer than this — the sinking of our wills 
into the Father's will: drawing waves of will 
force or powers of thought for these friends or 
for ourselves from Him who hath all will, all 
power, projecting His will for our friends toward 
our friends; just as we know that if we throw a 
stone into a lake, it makes a circle, and this circle 
widens and widens until it reaches the farther 
shore. We do not doubt the law of gravitation 
and movement; no more should we doubt, though 



24 THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 

we cannot understand them, the power of the 
wave thoughts of prayer. Prayer uttered under 
the law of His will for the person or object we 
pray for must reach the goal. I think we in- 
valids can cultivate more this oneness with the 
One perfect will, and this projecting of thoughts 
and also receiving them, for this needs quietness 
and silence. We cannot explain it, but gradually 
I think this will be known more fully as psy- 
chology and the action of the mind and spirit 
are better understood. As in the nineteenth cen- 
tury great progress was made in the knowledge 
of natural science and in conquering physical 
ills, may we not, on the threshold of the 
twentieth century, be opening a new book of 
knowledge, and be learning, as we turn each 
new leaf, how closely the mind and soul 
are united, controlling and influencing each 
other, and, also, how one mind acts on 
another; and then become conscious of a new 
spiritual awakening and a revival of the power 
of prayer? 



THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 25 

How often we say in our pain and weariness, 
" If only I could pray,'' or, "I have not strength 
even to pray! " Is not this our very opportunity 
for the quiet resting in God's will which is far 
more acceptable to Him than our petitions? 
Is it the child who comes to the Father with 
the most requests whom He loves the best? or 
the one who simply clings in love, saying: 
" Father, give me what Thou seest best for 
me" ? — the ejaculatory prayer which is like 
a short cord, uniting us to the Father. 

" And so the whole round world is every way 
Bound by gold chains around the feet of God." 

Then there is the " prayer of silence," where 
there is even less of self. It is not a state of 
dreaminess, ecstasy, or meditation. It is the 
very essence of the spirit of prayer without words. 
In this mode of prayer there is absolute surrender, 
self-abandonment to His will — literally " rest- 
ing in the Lord," waiting for Him to renew our 
strength. Surely there will be a fulfilment of 



26 THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 

the promise, and we " shall be given our heart's 
desire,*' and " we shall renew our strength." 
It is the quiet gazing into His face, listening to 
His voice; silencing our every thought, not even 
trying to think of the Presence of God, sunk in, 
or lifted up into His presence. We forget thus 
our pain, our weariness, our loneliness, for 

* Those who walk with Him from day to day 
Can never have a solitary way." 

Our Heavenly Father gives us these very times 
when we cannot pray in order to teach us this 
deeper truth, as Ruskin says in his description 
of the music of our lives: 

" God sends a time of forced leisure, sickness, 
disappointed plans, frustrated efforts, and makes 
a sudden pause in the choral hymn of our lives 
and we lament that our voices must be silent and 
our part missing in the music which ever goes up 
to the ear of the Creator. How does the musi- 
cian read the rest? See him beat the time with 
varying count and catch up the next note true 



THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 27 

and steady, as if no breaking place had come 
between. Not without design does God write 
the music of our lives. Be it ours to learn the 
time, and not to be dismayed at the * rests.' 
They are not to be slurred over, nor to be omitted, 
not to destroy the melody, not to change the 
key-note. If we look up, God Himself will 
beat the time for us. With the eye on Him, we 
shall strike the next note full and clear. If we 
say to ourselves, ' There is no music in a rest/ 
let us not forget there is the making of music in 
it. The making of music is often a slow and 
painful process in this life. How patiently God 
works to teach us! How long He waits for us to 
learn the lesson! " 

And Browning, in " Abt Vogler," has the 
same beautiful thought: 

" And what is our failure here but a triumph's 
evidence 
For the fulness of the days? Have we 
withered, or agonized? 
Why else was the pause prolonged but that 
singing might issue thence? 



28 THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 

Why rushed the discords in but that harmony 
should be prized? 
Sorrow is hard to bear, and doubt is slow to clear ; 
Each sufferer has his say; his scheme of the 
weal and woe, 
But God has a few of us whom He whispers 
in the ear, 
The rest may reason, and welcome, 'tis we 
musicians know." 

Then again there is more opportunity for un- 
selfishness. When in active work, we more or 
less work out our own ideas and ideals in 
our work; in suffering we work out Christ's 
ideal for us. " Here, only here, is it given 
us to suffer for Him," and as Ugo Bassi says 
in his sermon in the Hospital: 

" But if impatient thou let slip thy cross 
Thou wilt not find it in this world again 
Nor in another; here and here alone 
Is it given thee to suffer for God's sake. 
In other worlds we shall more perfectly 
Serve Him and love Him, praise Him and 
work for Him." 

Yet not even in our suffering may we allow 
ourselves to become selfish. There is a selfish 



THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 29 

suffering. Sometimes we are so busy suffering 
that we cannot listen to anything else but our 
own pain. Often, too, this is a direct result of 
unselfish doing and giving to others, so that in 
thinking of our unselfishness in the past, we dwell 
on it so much that we become absorbed in our 
present suffering, and in our self-pity we lose 
potential energy which we should be using in 
trying to get well. Much added suffering comes 
from wanting our own way in our suffering. 

We also gain Spiritual Strength, Power, 
Force. A friend of mine was intensely sur- 
prised when I said to her I thought " power 
a special gift to invalids." Physical strength 
is not the highest form of strength, but spiritual 
strength, and from this spiritual strength comes 
endurance, force, and power. 

" Power is only pain stranded through dis- 
cipline till weights will hang." 

I know many delicate, sickly women who are 
stronger and better able to bear a sudden strain, 
or even a prolonged one, than many physically 



30 THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 

strong women and men. They have learned to 
husband their strength and renew their forces. 
I would like to mention here, as an example, the 
experience of a friend of mine. This friend 
had had incipient tuberculosis, and was in a 
very run-down, weak condition, when the news 
came to her that her sister, after having one 
operation for a tumor, had now a recurrence 
of the disease, and was considered incurable. 
When she learned this, my friend immedi- 
ately went to her sister and promised she would 
never leave her until the end, saying to her, 
* We will bear it together; His will be done," 
and they did bear it together. The family re- 
marked, and the doctors marveled, whenever 
the sisters were together how much less the dying 
sister suffered, and the last three weeks very 
little, compared with most cases of this disease. 
Whenever my friend entered her sister's room 
she sunk her will and her sister's will in the Will 
of their Heavenly Father for them. Drawing 
power and strength constantly to her sister, she 



THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 31 

wrote: " Sometimes I have to leave her for a 
short time to refill my own reservoir of strength," 
but, she adds, " Surely His strength is sufficient "; 
*' then I constantly hear these words when 
my strength seems nearly to fail: * Could ye 
not watch with me one hour? * The most 
intense suffering is often seeing those we love, 
suffer. 

There are many opportunities which are given 
us in the " Companionship of Suffering,'* to live 
the simple life — doing for each other the things 
which those who are in more active life do not 
have the time to do, or overlook! It takes the 
best artist to paint the fine miniatures; so in doing 
little things well, we may be carrying out the 
most beautiful designs. 

Often because we cannot work an hour when 
we are sick, or not strong, we will not make the 
effort to begin to do something five minutes; we 
say, "It is not worth while." Our perspective 
needs to be readjusted. I like so much the story 
of the " Saint with Holy Shadow." This saint 



32 THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 

had lived many years just doing little things for 
every one with whom he came in contact, and 
had never realized he did anything. One day 
the Lord sent an angel to him in a dream, who 
said to him, " Ask anything of the Lord thou 
desirest and it shall be given thee." The angel 
thought, " Now, after so many years of such 
ordinary life, full of small duties and cares, he 
will ask some special gift, such as the power to 
work miracles, gift of oratory, or great wisdom." 
But no, — The saint, after thinking a few mo- 
ments, said: " I would like to do in little ways 
everything according to His will, and so do a 
great deal of good, but I would like never to 
know about the good I do." Then, when his 
request was repeated in Heaven, God said: " He 
shall be the Saint with the Holy Shadow — 
wheresoever his shadow shall fall, good will 
spring up, but as his shadow is behind him (as 
he walks in the sunlight of My love), he will 
never see the good he does " — so he became 
the Saint of the Holy Shadow. 



THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 33 

I have written more than I intended on the 
one side of this truth: the power which comes 
from suffering. There is another side: as in 
Christ's life, though He endured the Cross, He, 
also, in every way possible, mitigated and 
relieved suffering; so as we study His life we 
feel sure that our Heavenly Father's face 
is set, always, towards the happiness and 
health of the minds, bodies, and souls of His 
children. 

The spiritually healthy man should not be 
constantly thinking about his own soul, any 
more than the healthy man about his body: 
for too much self-analysis and introspection are 
bad for us. 

A healthy soul lives in such perfect accord 
with the Father's will, and is so full of the 
gladsome joy of the opportunities of work and 
study, also the joy of living and giving to his 
fellow men, that, as an ever-flowing stream, the 
channels of his soul are pure and healthy; as 
Keble expressed it in his "Christian Year": 



34 THE LIGHT BEYOND THE SHADOWS 

"There are in this loud stunning tide 
Of human care and crime, 
With whom the melodies abide 
Of the everlasting chime; 
Who carry music in their heart 
Through dusky lane and wrangling mart, 
Plying their daily task with busier feet, 
Because their secret souls a holy strain repeat.' * 

The privileges which I have enumerated in 
these pages are some of the opportunities we 
have in sickness and in health of reciprocity; 
our ways of giving in the "Companionship of 
Suffering." They may seem small, but they 
are the gold, frankincense, and myrrh which 
we take on our heavenly journey, and in 
giving them to each other, may we give them 
to Him. 



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